In early July, one of the presidential campaigns asked that church volunteers send in a copy of their congregation’s directory of addresses and phone numbers to the campaign headquarters. By today, August 15, volunteers were asked to have talked to their church’s Seniors group or young "20-30 Something" group and recruited five people to be active in the campaign. By September 17, the volunteers are asked to host at least two campaign-related potluck dinners with church members.

Now, I want you to know that there is a great deal of work going on right now to plan a wide variety of programs and classes for the fall here at Westminster. Elected church Elders, commission member volunteers and staff are organizing dinner gatherings for parents, speaker programs on church and world issues, book discussions about life in different countries, studies of the Psalms and the understanding of God, new members classes, a series on Biblical characters and studies of the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Luke but, as far as I know, there are no Westminster Church groups forming to volunteer for any particular presidential candidate’s campaign. If there were, not only would we be risking our tax-exempt status, but also we would be challenging the understanding of Reformed Christians that "God alone is Lord of the conscience." The tax law prohibits the endorsement of particular candidates or political parties by faith organizations. Providing of mailing lists is also prohibited. The Westminster Church directory belongs to the members of this congregation alone. On the title page a boxed statement clearly states that it "may not be used by any person, group, organization, or agency for any purpose without the advance written authorization of the pastors and the Session."

However, all these provisions don’t let us off the hook as far as politics in the greater meaning of promoting policies in this nation in which we live. The laws about the separation of church and state and about the privacy of membership information do not excuse us from involvement in social issues and the political process. The United States tax laws do allow faith organizations to lobby about issues as long as it is not the only thing we do. It is legal for a church to urge members to register to vote or to contact elected leaders in support or in opposition to legislation. It is certainly acceptable in a church to offer a candidate’s forum with multiple speakers or a discussion of important issues that might be coming to a vote such as legislation on the death penalty or gay/lesbian marriage or health care or the war in Iraq or a change in the income tax laws. We haven’t been shy about discussing these things here at Westminster and we understand that we certainly don’t all agree with each other. Doesn’t that make life interesting?

There is a tendency among some people to feel that the issues of the secular world or the "dirty business" of politics shouldn’t taint the sanctified holy life that we live together as Christians within our church community. Maybe you grew up in a church where the members dressed spotlessly on Sunday morning, prayed quietly and smiled sweetly to each other while discussing the weather or the tasty potato chip casserole at the last church social. That is not a Biblical model! In reality, our faith ancestors were usually deep into the dirty business of politics in one way or another. The most important liberation story in the Hebrew Scriptures has God directing poor tongue-tied Moses to lobby the Pharaoh to free his people. No matter how he tried to get out of it God kept pushing him into it. In a later period, the Prophets were usually up to their armpits in political alligators preaching from street-corners or letter writing as we know because their letters were passed on down to us. It was a dirty, risky business for the shepherd prophet Amos to condemn the leaders of Israel when he said, "You sell the righteous into debt slavery for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. You trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and push the afflicted out of the way." This did not make for a peaceful life for Amos and did not make him popular with the people in power. He had left his home where he had been a landowner, farmer, and sheepherder in Tekoa. Who knows what his family members thought of his behavior, especially when he was kicked out of the royal sanctuary and commanded not to prophesy there again? In this morning’s passage, the Prophet Isaiah said, "The Lord expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry!" Certainly those in power didn’t grace him with a tax-exempt status.

Then, a few hundred years later, along came Jesus. Much of what we know of him seems peaceful enough: a babe in a manger, a young man talking with fishermen at the lake, telling stories on a hillside or healing the sick in a home or town square. When we look closely, however, we realize that his stories and his actions always had a little twist. They challenged the status quo. They liberated those who felt captive. They opened the eyes of those who had difficulty seeing or understanding. There were some people whose dominance or power was negatively affected by these transformations. They were not happy. Jesus risked death by living and preaching the truth.

In today’s passage, Luke makes Jesus seem almost as scary as a fire-breathing dragon. "I bring fire to the earth and what stress I am under until it is all completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace? No, not peace but division!" He said to his disciples, "Households will be divided, father against son, daughter against mother." Choosing to follow Jesus can disrupt even family obligations, family habits and loyalties. It reminds me of my college years when families were bitterly divided, many for religious reasons, over the Viet Nam war. For some, that division also meant physical separation to Canada or emotional separation as some sons, against their father’s wishes, chose alternative service. Jesus didn’t tell his followers, us, to avoid confrontation with family members or community members. He merely said that if we take him seriously, division is going to happen. Conflict may be required to move an important issue in our world to the next step. Certainly, during the civil rights era of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, there were "good church people" on both sides of the issue of integration. Families and communities were truly divided and they both thought they were living in the way their faith guided them. Could it be that we need to move through a period of conflict on important issues, a time when we wrestle with and seriously examine our thoughts, when we seek God’s guidance as we struggle together to find solutions?

What are the issues that divide us from our family members today? What are the hot buttons on your political spectrum, the ones where you strongly differ in view from those who are usually close to you?

Iraq war. Tax cuts or increases. Spray against mosquitoes for West Nile virus in Fairfax? Smaller energy efficient cars vs SUVs. Immigration issues. Terrorism.

I’d like to ask you to think about your issue for a few moments. Close your eyes if you would like to do so.

Hold in your mind one issue where you differ from those closest to you. Imagine a person that is or could be affected by this issue. As you think about that person and the issue, I invite you to open yourself to God’s guidance to you and God’s presence with you. How would it feel to be that person affected by this dividing issue? Imagine yourself in their shoes. If it were you, what problems would you be experiencing right now? How would you want people to respond to you? How does God guide you to respond to a person who is affected by this issue? Are there ways that you and we can begin addressing this issue in the world? Remember, Moses was frightened and hesitant, scared to go to Pharaoh, scared to speak and pled for his people. Could God be calling you to move your own grain of sand for this issue? How is God asking you to respond to this situation in our world? How would your family or loved ones react if you became involved in this issue by writing letter, by taking a stand, by writing a check? As you think about the dividions that could occur for you, prayerfully hold steady to this issue that most concerns you do, may you know God’s strength and power guiding you.

This is an election year. We will be asked for our loyalty, our votes and our money dozens and dozens of times between now and November 2nd. We hope this church is a place where we can discuss the issues without fear of division, where we can analyze, study and probe, where we can pray and discuss, pray and talk, pray and listen, pray and act, so that our letter-writing and our voting will be truly guided by God’s Spirit. As Jesus firmly reminds us at the end of today’s passage, it is critically important to be involved in the world, in the political aspects of our lives together. If we see a cloud forming over Mt. Tam, we know rain is likely. If we feel a Santa Ana wind blowing from the south, we know there will be heat. In what ways can we also interpret the blowing winds of political issues, those issues that affect our nation and our world?

Some opportunities coming up soon include a meeting on the crisis in Darfur on Aug. 25 and a study series in October on faith and politics. Today, the video, Seniors for Peace, of residents from the Redwoods Retirement Center, will be shown in the library following the 10:00 service. You are welcome to come view it and join in a discussion.

Our Presbyterian Brief Statement of Faith says in part, "In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing,.. to unmask idolatries in church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace."

The campaigns will be pulling us in many directions in the next three months. Beware the barrage on your TV and in your mailbox. Read, think, discuss, and pray. As people of faith we are called to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty in the business of politics and remember, especially this year, every vote counts!